Here you are family

On the weekend of July 9, it may have looked like a small town had sprung up at Bottle Creek Campground south of Encampment.

A variety of campers and tents had been set up for an extended weekend stay and were joined by several large tents. For the 75th year in a row, the United States Forest Service campground served as the home of the Wyoming Rancher's Family Camp. Emphasis on family.

On a warm, sunny-and slightly smokey-Saturday morning the Miller family is hard at work getting lunch ready for campers. Matriarch Shirley Miller is joined by her grandchildren as they prepare sandwiches and salad for a simple lunch. Brett Miller runs the slicer as he cuts roast beef while his cousin, Raden Miller, prepares a head of lettuce for the salad.

The youngest members of the Miller family are the fourth generation to attend. Memories have obviously been made as the younger adults and the older children recount previous camps. In an area which has little, if any, cell service it encourages memory sharing and connecting with one another.

While the Wyoming Rancher's Family Camp is held the second weekend of July now, the first dates set for the camp were in August.

"August 22-25 have been set as dates for the first annual Rancher's camp meeting to be held in Wyoming, it has been announced by the committee in charge," reads an article clipped from 1946. "Instigated by a meeting of nearly half a hundred ranchers in the Platte valley last spring, the camp has been planned to include all ranchers in the Platte valley."

Shirley has no problem providing a verbal history of the Wyoming Rancher's Family Camp. Thanks to Peggy Hizer, however, a collection of past articles and book excerpts can easily help fill in the gaps.

The original camp manager was Ralph Hall, who had been speaking at a cowboy camp and was heard by Joe Hewitt in 1945. Hewitt contacted Reverend D.N. Shotwell, who led the Encampment Presybterian Church, and Shotwell attended a cowboy camp in New Mexico to see how they were managed.

In March 1946, local ranchers met at the ranch of Ken Day and organized the first Wyoming Rancher's Family Camp. Day served as the chairman, Hall was the camp manager, Shotwell was the secretary and the three were joined by Elton Trowbridge, Swan Olson, Kleber Hadsell and Robert Lazear.

From the very beginning, the committee had decided there would be nothing for sale at the camp. Hall wrote in his book, "The Main Trail", the original committee was adamant about this and not even so much as a donation plate would be passed around. While the committee would certainly accept donations if offered, they chose to figure out the finances themselves so attendees could enjoy the camp.

In the past, Bottle Creek Campground wasn't the only location of the camp. It traveled throughout the West from June 20 to August 10. Other locations of the camp included Fox Creek Campground; the Black Hills in South Dakota; Sheep Mountain in Terry, Montana; Sweet Grass Hills in Whitlash, Montana; Lake Roosevelt in Davenport, Washington; and Seeley Lake, Montana.

Over the years, the camp has ceased traveling around the western states and sets up every year at Bottle Creek Campground. Also, over the years, the number of attendees have ebbed and flowed. While attendance seemed low this year, Shirley said she has had years in which she had fed nearly 200 people on one day and 90 another day.

With 75 years under its belt, there is hope the Wyoming Rancher's Family Camp will continue for several more.